59th annual World Championship Over-the-Line Tournament

The event that holds the world championship tournament of Over-the-Line is almost as unique as the game itself.

The Old Mission Beach Athletic Club’s 59th Annual World Championship Tournament during the weekends of July 14 and 15 and July 21 and 22 expects to bring close to 50,000 spectators to Mission Beach, where the game was invented. This softball-like bat-and-ball sport will unite 1,200 teams at an event that OMBAC insists is more than just “beer, babes and bats on the beach.”

“You can’t explain it until you actually go there and see it,” Patrick Vaughan of OMBAC’s Over-the-Line committee said.

The highly competitive event encompasses what the adults-only San Diego crowd loves about summer: skimpy clothing, alcohol and fun in the sun.

The city of San Diego has issued a special-event permit to allow the consumption of alcohol in designated areas during the tournament. It has become an event that San Diegans know and love.

“It’s all about tradition,” Vaughan said. “Nothing has really changed in 58 years of the game. It’s been around longer than the Padres and the Chargers, and it’s just something that people look forward to every year.”

But the tournament isn’t all about parties and sun tans: The competition is fierce.

“The teams that compete in the final days of the tournament play probably two days a week year-round and get into 15 to 20 tournaments a year,” Vaughan said. “They want to win a ring and be a world champion.”

Teams of three compete in men’s or women’s categories after an entry fee of $90 per team. Proceeds go toward OMBAC’s services in amateur and youth athletics.

“It’s a great event for us because it helps us donate to the charities we support, which includes everything from cancer research to athletics for people with disabilities,” Vaughan said.